Vertex Opens Renewable Diesel Facility

Texas-based Vertex Energy, which owns the former Shell refinery in Saraland, recently unveiled a new facility there that will produce renewable diesel from soybean oil, AL.com reported. The fuel will serve as a drop-in replacement for any standard diesel, said Wes Mock, site general manager for the facility, which produces transportation diesel. Though the site will still produce standard diesel, as well as gasoline and jet fuel, it will also produce more than 8,000 barrels per day of renewable diesel. A planned second phase of the diesel facility will bring the capacity of renewable diesel to 14,000 barrels a day. The fuel will primarily be exported to California, where there are incentives for using renewable diesel fuels, Mock said, but the economic benefits will still be felt in Alabama. Soybeans for the fuel will be both imported and locally sourced.